Acer Puts Intel Core Processors in New TimelineX Notebooks

Acer's new line of Aspire TimelineX notebooks boasts a range of Intel Core processors. The emphasis across the lineup is ultra-mobility meets high performance.

Acer is introducing a boosted line of Aspire TimelineX notebooks outfitted
with Intel Core series processors and a promised battery life of up to 8 hours.
Geared toward "road warriors," with the notebooks, Acer is putting an
emphasis on a mix of lightweight ultra-mobility and high performance.
Officials with the No. 3 global PC maker, in a Sept. 27 announcement, shared
limited details about the laptops - the 1830T, 38020T, 4820T and 5820T - and
held back on their official release date.

Acer's hopeful standout among the four, all of which will run the Microsoft
Windows 7 operating system, is the 1830T. At a weight of 3.09 pounds, the 1830T
features an 11.6-inch LED backlit HD display and measures 11.22 by 8.03 by 1.01
(at its thinnest point) inches. Included are an Intel Core i7 680UM processor
with Turbo Boost technology - a feature that allows the processor to, at the
request of the OS, run faster than the base operating frequency - that runs at
up to 2.53GHz, as well as a 500GB hard drive, 4GB of dual-channel memory and
Bluetooth connectivity.

Like the other new Aspire TimelineX models, the 1830T also comes with
802.11b/g/n and Gigabit Ethernet LAN
connectivity, a 1.3-megapixel HD Webcam with a resolution of 1,280 by 1,024, a
digital microphone that minimizes echo, four USB
2.0 ports, and a multi-in-one card reader.
Pricing for the 1830T is set at $899.99, though Acer is offering additional
configurations at reduced rates. Versions with either an Intel Core i3 or Core
i5 ultra-low voltage processor, 4GB of DDR3
memory and a 600GB internal hard drive begin at $599.99.
Game for a PC larger than a purse? The TimelineX 3820T measures 13.3 inches;
the 4820T, 14 inches; and the 5820T, 15.6 inches. Each comes with a choice of
Intel Core i3 or Core i5 processor.

The latter two feature integrated DVD
drives and up to 4GB of memory, expandable to 8GB. And to complement the large
display on the 5820T, its keyboard includes a dedicated numeric keypad. The
starting retail price for the 5820T and 4820T is $699.99. However, two versions
of the 14-incher - called the 4820TG - include discrete ATI
Mobility Radeon HD 5650 Switchable graphics and full DirectX 11 support, and so
start at $799.99.
Pricing wasn't announced for the 3820T, though the 13.3-inch unit weighs
3.97 pounds and measures 0.86 inches at its thinnest point. Included memory is
either 3GB or 4GB, expandable to 8GB, with a 320GB hard drive.
In the second quarter, Acer lost the No. 2 market share position to
competitor Dell, a
loss that iSuppli analyst Matthew Wilkins attributed to Acer's emphasis on
mobility.
"With its product line heavily focused on mobile PCs, Acer's sequential
decline in notebook shipments impacted its position at the total PC level more
than its competitors, which were able to draw on the upswing desktop shipments
to bolster their total shipments," Wilkins wrote in a Sept. 6 report.
While Acer experienced a 6.2 percent market share decline during the
quarter, it nonetheless posted a 24.2 percent increase in shipments compared with
second-quarter 2009 figures.

Michelle Maisto has been covering the enterprise mobility space for a decade, beginning with Knowledge Management, Field Force Automation and eCRM, and most recently as the editor-in-chief of Mobile Enterprise magazine. She earned an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University, and in her spare time obsesses about food. Her first book, The Gastronomy of Marriage, if forthcoming from Random House in September 2009.